The present disclosure relates generally to message routing and more particularly to message routing in a unified messaging platform environment.
Unified messaging is the integration of different forms of communication (e.g., email, voicemail, short message service (SMS), fax, etc.) into a single, unified message store (e.g., a unified messaging platform) accessible from a variety of user devices.
Call centers are an exemplary application of unified messaging. Call centers are offices used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting large volumes of requests by telephone or other communication devices. Call centers are used to receive incoming calls to an organization (e.g., a company, corporation, business unit, etc.). For example, call centers may be used as a customer service center staffed by multiple customer service representatives. Each representative may be responsible for one or more customer accounts and/or types of customer issues (e.g., account termination, maintenance, billing disputes, etc.).
However, a call center may be contacted with a single telephone number or a limited number of telephone numbers. That is, an organization may have a single customer service number (e.g., 1-800-CUSTOMR) that all customers call, regardless of the reason for calling. Incoming calls are then routed based on operator routing, automated interactive voice response (IVR) systems, or the like. If a particular customer service representative responsible for the incoming call is unavailable, the customer may be invited to leave a message in the form of a voicemail. In general, these voicemails are deposited to a shared mailbox for all customer service representatives. Similarly, a call center may be contacted using other forms of communications using one or a limited number of contact addresses (for example, using a single common email address such as customer_service@hypothetical_sample_company.com).
In a unified messaging platform environment, other communications methods, such as email and facsimiles, may also be used to contact customer service representatives. In call centers emails and facsimiles may be deposited along with the voicemails as described above. The term “call center” is used generically herein to refer to any organization which can be contacted, and it is assumed that such “call centers” can utilize any form of communication that may be supported by unified communication systems (also referred to as unified communications platforms).
Instead of inviting the customer to leave a message in the shared mailbox, the customer may be routed to a different customer service representative when a specific customer service representative is unavailable. However, as a consequence of the use of a shared mailbox by customer service representatives, customers may be poorly attended to and the time-to-response may be increased. Additionally, organizational resources are wasted sorting, correlating, and handling the deposited voicemails, emails, and facsimiles.